I am right now dealing with the hassle of transferring many
microcassettes to my computer (very time consuming, including the
occasional tape jam; quality is not too great), and I really encourage
you to either go the mini-disc way (if you can easily transfer the
files from the disc to your computer; there may or may not be Macintosh
or Linux drivers) or the iPod+iTalk way (which I think may be even
better, but your mileage may vary; I got such a rig after I completed
my interviews, and plan to use it in my next project). Basically, the
idea is to try to keep the whole process digital.
Microphone quality is indeed paramount: I used for my interviews a Sony
ECM-R100 microphone which has some noise-reduction features and that
really helped (I used to use a basic microphone and quality was
terrible). The iTalk seems OK, but I have not had time to make real
comparisons so far. Do not expect miracles from the noise-reducing
devices though, even if, again, it helps. I would guess that lapel
microphones would probably be the best solution in that respect, but
they are invasive (not per se, but because of the wiring).
One last remark: I bought and tried a Sony digital recorder before I
decided to use microcassettes instead and bought the ECM-R100
microphone. The quality was awful, hardly audible, and transfer was
also a pain (I have a Mac and there were no drivers, so I had to use
the audio-out (earphone) plug to transfer, just as I would have done
with tapes).
Hope that helps,
Marc
Le 25 août 04, à 14:47, Sally Stone a écrit :
> I am so glad you posted this question, Helen, because I am about to
> embark on my dissertation research, which will involve taping
> interviews, focus groups, and classroom discussions. I will purchase
> my audio equipment soon and would love to hear about people's
> experiences with various types of equipment.
>
> Sally
>
> Hi everyone
>
> I realise this subject has come up many times before but I hope you'll
> be able to offer me some advice.
>
> I am about to commence working on 30 plus qualitative interviews with
> children. For previous projects I have only ever used traditional
> audio tape. For this one I would like to use a more modern system.
>
> What are the relative advantages of using mini-disc versus digital
> voice recorders?
>
> Which particular brands and models would you recommend / not recommend?
>
> Are any of the models particularly sensitive - able to pick up soft
> voices or good at reducing background noise?
>
> I'd be very grateful for any advice or sharing of experience with this
> type of equipment.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Helen Rice
>
> ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!
>
|